JR's Movie Reviews - ANG PANDAY

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ANG PANDAY

Year of Release: 2017
Date Watched: 28 December 2017
JR's Rating:  (6.8 out of 10, Okay)

"Not Bad for Coco Martin's Directorial Debut"

POSITIVES ➕ Coco Martin as Panday and Director ➕ Ensemble Cast of Veteran Actors ➕ Ang Kagubatan (Dwarves Scene) ➕ Aura's Coming Out Scene ➕ Introduction Scene ➕ Tondo Brawl Scene ➕ Special Effects and Good Camerawork

NEGATIVES ➖ Terrible Sound Mixing ➖ Unnecessary Jokes + Fillers ➖ Evident Fake Action Scenes (No Blood) ➖ Jake Cuenca as Lizardo ➖ Mariel de Leon as Flavio's love interest

Though not perfectly crafted, Coco Martin's interpretation, portrayal and direction of Ang Panday is surprisingly good despite him to take the directorial seat for the very first time. For me, it is an action-packed teleserye done in feature length form. Ang Panday executes Carlo J. Caparas's comics of the same name which lets the youngest of the Flavio bloodline fight and ultimately defeat Lizardo, the head of a demonic empire consisting of aswangs and manananggals that threaten the city of Manila. Amazingly, the effects done on this film was done in an almost hollywood-like manner, an achievement indeed in the Filipino use of technical and special effects. Some action scenes, however, seems to be fake due non-usage of blood and observable inconsistencies but Coco Martin's hands-on stunts are a saving grace from such. The introductory scene was already astounding making you really anticipate on what's next to come. The Tondo Brawl scene was action-packed and remains my favorite in this film. The Kagubatan's river was really picturesque and realistic. The dwarves' scene was cute, the healing of Flavio by diwata was also good but Flavio's removal of the sword was the best. Aura's coming out was a symbolical addition in a the film and not a filler that was meaningless. Though the movie has an astounding veteran actors backing it (like Gloria Romero, Jaime Fabregas, Eddie Garcia, Jaclyn Jose, Lito Lapid), the film was not saved by some actors - Jake Cuenca and Mariel de Leon - who seem to have a hard time to portray their characters effectively. The sound mixing in some scenes was terrible as some dialogues can't already be heard and were irritating while watching the scenes. There were a lot of meaningless filler scenes that could have been also removed in the mix. I can't help but praise though the amazing camerawork done in this film that proves Coco Martin's future in directing. Ang Panday remains to be the better choice against some mainstream movies this MMFF season.

#AngPanday #MetroManilaFilmFestival #MMFF #MMFF2017
#2018Movies #MovieReviews #JRMovieReviews

Image Reference: Movie & TV Shows Putlocker

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^JR Late Night Posts - JR Late Night Reviews: Movies

Time Published: 08 January 2018 (8:00 PM)

JR's Movie Reviews - DEADMA WALKING

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DEADMA WALKING

Year of Release: 2017
Date Watched: 03 January 2018
JR's Rating:  (9.0 out of 10, Excellent)

"Experiencing Death in Its Best"

POSITIVES ➕ Edgar Allan De Guzman ➕ Unwasted Celebrity Cameos ➕ The Many Eulogies ➕ Extravagant Funeral ➕ The Ending Plot Twists ➕ Quotable Lines & Jokes ➕ Eugene Domingo's Au Revoir ➕ "Crying Divas" Musical

NEGATIVES ➖Seems Similar to Die Beautiful

Welcome to the pinakabonggang lamay ng taon, an experience of comedy and drama that is utmost memorable. Deadma Walking is one of the best comedy films to have spawned from this modern age of the MMFF, a comedy that relies more on satire than by on-the-spot acts or one-liners from those other comedies in this year's MMFF. Deadma Walking explores the eccentric friendship between Mark and John, who both plan an extravagant funeral for the later in pursuit of giving way of his desire to experience his own "death" by seeing before it literally happens. I seem to compare the masterpiece Die Beautiful and this amazing piece for having the elements of death and gay culture both combined effectively to create a movie that is comedic and at the same time dramatic. Deadma Walking, though, deserves all its own praise for its own brand of lines and scenes that are uniquely quotable and relatable. I find the friendship between Mark and John to be eccentric but in the most positively applauding sense. The funerals are wonderfully presented in the film making me want to attend each one. The eulogies by the many celebrities who made their cameo in the film are all worth listening, all the more making you feel for the dying character in the film. My favorite cameo though would have to be Eugene Domingo's symbolic short film adaptation of embracing death incorporated in the film and Carmi Martin's visit during the funeral of John's mother. The incorporation of the Crying Divas musical was also masterfully crafted, a filler that seems so essential to the over-all beauty and impact of the film to its viewers. The movie has so much quotable lines and jokes that are still rumbling in my mind up to this day making me laugh at various times upon remembering them during the day. You'll definitely want to watch out for the plot twists that are at the end of this film because one comes unexpectedly (the admission of Joseph) while the other seems to be anticipated (let's put it this way, something happens to Mark). Edgar Allan De Guzman is definitely stand out in this film, portraying his character masterfully making me think he might be gay. He deserves the Best Supporting Actor award and his character deserves the title "Bestie of the Year". One important lesson I learned from this film, "pwede rin palang soulmates ang magkaibigan."

#DeadmaWalking #MetroManilaFilmFestival #MMFF #MMFF2017
#2018Movies #MovieReviews #JRMovieReviews

Image Reference: WhatsHappening.PH

>>> http://www.whatshappening.com.ph/movie/deadma-walking

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^JR Late Night Posts - JR Late Night Reviews: Movies

Time Published: 07 January 2018 (8:00 PM)

JR Late Night Blogs: Music Videos of the Year 2017

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It has been 7 years since JR released his very first Music Videos of the Year list way back 2010. Down memory lane, JR lists the 20 of the best music videos the year has to offer with 5 honorable mentions being made. In this year's edition of the list, JR restructures the list to have 10 of the best or let's just say JR's definitive music videos for the year but for the first time, JR will not have his honorable mentions included in this blog. However, all records or statistics mentioned continue to date back from JR's very first list.

JR selects on a wide array of music which have their own corresponding videos from the year that was 2017. JR's pick for the top Music Video of the Year 2017 comes from Ed Sheeran's numerous releases for the year. His "Perfect" earned worldwide success just recently but even before that, in the local Philippines, the song was already a huge success dominating the air waves in the country. The second spot goes to this year's winner of the MTV Video Music Awards, "HUMBLE." by Kendrick Lamar. Why #2? While the list is named Music Videos of the Year, JR ranks the music videos based on music (60%) more than video (40%). While HUMBLE.'s video might look better, Ed Sheeran's "Perfect" song complemented by its beautiful narrative video was for JR more striking, meaningful and an emotion-grabber. The top two are greatly of different genres and for the first time even JR lists a hip hop song at a record high of #2. JR is not much of a hip hop fan, so to make it to JR's list, the top 5 even, just means you are special and really one of his favorites for the year. Way back 2011, however, JR lists the first hip hop video within the top 5, "Lighters" by Bad Meets Evil, making Kendrick Lamar second from the genre within the yearly top 5. "HUMBLE." by Kendrick Lamar hits a record high of top 2 for the Hip Hop genre. The question is if we will have a Music Video of the Year that is of Hip Hop or of pure Rap genre in the future. In JR Late Night Blogs' history, only Pop and House (Electronic) genres nagged the highest spot in the list. This year belongs, however, to Ed Sheeran, who continues the Pop genre trend for the top 1 spot, and Dua Lipa who both have two entries in this year's list. JR won't mention any other entries in this introduction. Behold, we start with JR's master listing of the best music videos of 2017. Sorry, no Despacito in this list.

Summary of the List:
1    |    2    |    3    |    4    |    5    |    6    |    7    |    8    |    9    |    10
Intro    |    Methodology    |   Records    |    Data Sources    |    Photo Credits

JR's MUSIC VIDEOS OF THE YEAR - 2017 METHODOLOGY:

1. For a music and its corresponding music video to qualify in the list, the music must be meaningful and airwave dominating for the year. It must be a favorite earworm amongst all. The video must be aesthetically beautiful and innovative. (60% Song, 40% Video)
2. Songs which doesn't have their corresponding music video, however, are disqualified in the selection process. Even lyric videos are not anymore allowed to be in the list.
3. In order to qualify as a 2017 music video, the music videos in the list must have been released worldwide on YouTube between 01 January 2017 to 31 December 2017 and must be available in the Philippines for viewing. No local entries, however, are qualified.
4. To make the selection of entries easier, only music videos with more than 100,000,000 views are qualified to be in the list.
5. All YouTube views in the list were as of 05 January 2018. All numbers have been rounded up to the nearest millions (to accommodate possible view increase within the day of blog release). 

JR'S Music Videos of the Year - 2017

Rank	Music Videos of the Year	Main Artist	Video Release
1	Perfect	Ed Sheeran	November 2017
2	HUMBLE.	Kendrick Lamar	March 2017
3	New Rules	Dua Lipa	July 2017
4	Scared To Be Lonely	Martin Garrix	January 2017
5	Too Good At Goodbyes	Sam Smith	September 2017
6	Castle On The Hill	Ed Sheeran	January 2017
7	Symphony	Clean Bandit	March 2017
8	There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back	Shawn Mendes	June 2017
9	Mama	Jonas Blue	May 2017
10	Look What You Made Me Do	Taylor Swift	August 2017

Get back to previous JR Late Night Blogs' Music Videos of the Year lists:

Music of 2016 | Music of 2015 | Music of 2013 | Music of 2012 | Music of 2011 | Music of 2010

#1

PERFECT  (Ed Sheeran)

Weekly Billboard Hot 100 Peak:  Year-End Billboard Hot 100 Rank:	#1 n/a	Current YouTube Views: Philippine Hot 100 Peak:	458,000,000  #1
Video Release Date:	09 November 2017	Song Genre:	Pop
YouTube Channel:	>>> https://www.youtube.com/user/EdSheeran
Music Video Source:	>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vv-BfVoq4g

"I know I have met an angel in person, she looks perfect
I don't deserve this, you look perfect tonight"

The year 2017 definitely belongs to Ed Sheeran's wide array of future classics that are real-to-life and tearjerkers. Speaking of tearjerkers, Ed Sheeran's "Perfect" is JR's selection as the best the year 2017 has to offer. "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran is definitely perfect - sorry for the pun. The lyrics are descriptive of that special someone we may all have or dream of and that's why it's so memorable. I know that many couples out there remember their special someone because of this song due to how relatable some lyrics are to that same special someone. I attribute it to, of course, that special love I may have found right now. I'll always remember that person because of this song right here. So, I thank you Ed Sheeran for this. For his first time in JR's Music Videos of the Year list, Ed Sheeran debuts at the highest spot there is.

This is the debut entry of Ed Sheeran in JR's Music Videos of the Year list.